This application is related to copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 857,895 filed Dec. 6, 1977, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 692,495 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,861, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 657,383 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,112, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 588,888 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,715, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 564,087 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,205.
This invention relates to a system for converting electromagnetic energy to mechanical energy.
As disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. patents, it is known to convey controlled amounts of hydrogen and chlorine to a chamber which is exposed to high frequency electromagnetic radiation such as derived from the sun or from an artificial light source. The chlorine molecules are broken up into atomic chlorine with some chlorine being ionized. The atomized chlorine combines with hydrogen atoms to form hydrogen chloride. The hydrogen chloride is formed in an exothermic reaction which results in the temperature of the hydrogen chloride being substantially higher than that of the chlorine or hydrogen molecules conveyed to the reactor chamber. The resulting high temperature, high pressure gas is utilized to drive an output device such as a turbine.
Such a system requires a substantial amount of high energy electromagnetic radiation. This is not available from the sun unless a concentrator is utilized. Further, even with a concentrator, the sunlight is not continuously available and the level of sunlight changes with the seasons and with the weather.
Thus there is a need in the art to provide an improved source of high energy electromagnetic radiation.
It is also known in the art to provide a nuclear reactor for converting nuclear into mechanical or electrical energy. A number of different types of reactors are available, however, all reactors generate high frequency radiation including gamma rays. This radiation which is harmful to humans is dissipated through a shield. This energy is thus lost during the nuclear power generation process.
There, accordingly, is a need in the art to provide an improved means for utilizing the high energy radiation generated in nuclear reactors.